lemen as died without male heirs, or had been condemned for any
offence, on such noblemen as had approved themselves valiant defenders
of the country. Now where could be found a more worthy recipient of such
estates than Hunyady, to whom the public treasury was besides a debtor on
account of the sums he disbursed for the constant warfare he maintained
against the Turks? Especially in the south of Hungary a whole series
of lordly estates, many of them belonging to the crown, had come into
Hunyady's hands, either as pledges for the repayment of the money he had
paid his soldiers, or as his own private property.

The yearly revenue arising from these vast estates was employed by
Hunyady, not in personal expenditure, but in the defence of his country.
He himself lived as simply as any of his soldiers, and recognized no
other use of money than as a weapon for the defence of Christendom
against Islam. In the early morning, while all his suite slept, he passed
hours in prayer before the altar in the dimly lighted church, imploring
the help of the Almighty for the attainment of his sole object in
life--the destruction of the Turkish power. At last, 1448, he set out
against the Sultan with an army of twenty-four thousand of his most
trusty soldiers.

This time it was on the frontier of Servia, on the "Field of Blackbirds,"
that Hunyady encountered Sultan Amurath, who had an army of one hundred
and fifty thousand men--again more than five times the number of the
Christians. Hunyady at first withdrew himself into his intrenched camp,
but in a few days felt himself strong enough to engage with the enemy on
the open field. The battle lasted without interruption for two days and a
night. Hunyady himself was several times in deadly peril. Once his horse
was shot under him. He was to be found wherever assistance, support,
encouragement, were needed. At last, on the morning of the third day,
as the Turks, who had received reinforcements, were about to renew the
attack, the Waywode of Wallachia passed over to the side of the Turks.
The Waywode belonged to the Orthodox Eastern Church. He had joined
Hunyady on the way, and his desertion transferred six thousand men from
one side to the other, and decided the battle in favor of the Turks.
The Hungarians, worn out by fatigue, fell into a discouragement, while
Hunyady had no fresh troops to bring up to their support. The battle came
to a sudden end. Seventeen thousand Hungarian corpses strewe